Rhoda Baxter's Blog

Canva now lets you create interesting and interactive landing pages. I use a simple email collection page as an example, but you can do things like puzzles and quizzes too.

If part of your collection page includes a field for the person to put in their email address – then you can collect their email address.

If you use Mailchimp – you’re in luck, there’s an integration option.

For all ...

Last week, I talked about how to be more human in your designs and I managed to completely forget about the Canva draw feature – what could be more human than making doodles by hand?! So this week, I’m rectifying the mistake by doing a quick video on how to use Canva draw.

Obviously, this works best if you’re using a touchscreen and a stylus (or an ipad and Apple pencil). I think the main reason I didn’t think of it immediately is because I simply don’t use it. If I want to draw something, I’...

I always enjoy Jane Lovering’s books so I snapped this up when I saw it on Netgalley.
Single mum Libby is running away from a controlling relationship and has her two year old with her. She’s taking on part time work in order to make ends meet. She has been hired by the stressed out architect Ross, who wants her to persuade a squatter to leave a ramshackle house that’s on his property. Oh yes, and Libby has a terrible phobia of birds.

The job sound easy enough, but it turns out that Isobel...

Whatever you think of generative AI, it looks like it’s here to stay. It’s everywhere now.

Last week, I was reading a post on my kid’s school app (because, of COURSE there’s an app for that now!) and thought ‘this sounds mildly hysterical’. It was a notice about a bake sale, but the language was flamboyant and over the top. Then I realised that it was probably written by ChatGPT. So yes, the stuff is everywhere now.

What does this mean for us writers? I honestly don’t know. AI is pretty go...

If you’ve been following the Canva Tips for Authors YouTube channel for a while, you’ll know that I LOVE the Match and Move transition. It’s a glorious little trick that makes it possible to make some really slick looking graphics using Canva. And it’s available on the free tier.

When Canva did it’s upgrade to the Video 2.0 editor, suddenly, ‘match and move’ disappeared. Except it hadn’t. It was just hidden … and you needed some extra steps to find it. In this video, I’ll show you how to find...

It’s the time of year when I ask people in the Canva Tips for Authors Facebook group what they want me to talk about in the upcoming year. Here’s what the people in the group asked for:

Is there anything you’d like to know about? Pop it in a comment and tell me.

One thing that came up in the group was ‘What are layers and how do I use them?’. I use them all the time – you can’t really...

An interesting read set in Jazz age Shanghai. I liked the idea of the two Shanghais, one a reflection of the other.
Lady Jing – half nine-tailed fox, half vampire is the ward of Big Wang (King of Hell). She is … childish – angry, petulant, impulsive. Luckily, she had a lot of very patient people around her. She is sent to escort Tony Lee, a human who is helping set up a bank in Hell. Later, she is sent to Mortal Shanghai, with Tony Lee as her guide.
This book had a richly developed backdrop, w...

When I first got an ARC of this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I don’t read much in the way of cowboy romance and it was billed as ‘spicy cowboy romance’. I dived in anyway and I’m really glad I did.

Nina is hiding away at a luxury ranch while she’s recovering from the trauma of sexual assault. It’s entirely possible that her attacker would ruin her career (on top of attacking her!).

Maverick is a cowboy/ co-owner of the ranch. He sees her vulnerability and gently coaxes her out ...

Greton is preoccupied with the question ‘what is your heart’s desire’. And, incidentally, he needs to flee the city (with no money or clothes or, well, anything).

I really enjoyed the peek into Greton’s thought processes and the way his obsessive attention to maps often led him to behave in a way that might look odd to other people. I liked the way he had to consider the social norm before he responded to people (which didn’t always work).
There is a wonderful innocence about Greton as a c...

I always snap up Jane Lovering’s books when I see them on Netgalley. I’ve read nearly all the books she’s written and this one is my second favourite (the favourite is always The Boys of Christmas).
Fee is failing at pretty much every metric. She ends up drunk, dumped and very unhappy in the bar across the street from where she lives, where she stumbles upon the Monday Night Heartbreak Club. They are an odd assortment of people, all of whom have been disappointed in love in one way or another...